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Craig Adlington

@craigadlington

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AI-native Chief of Staff who builds operating systems for C-level teams and scale.

New Zealand

Message

What I'm looking for

I’m looking for a C-level partner role where I can ship operating systems end-to-end—hands-on, AI-first, and built for durable scale—helping teams run high-stakes work with clear cadence, governance, and measurable outcomes.

I’m an AI-native strategic operator and Chief of Staff to C-level founders who also runs an e-commerce business hands-on, AI-first. I bring 15+ years building and shipping the operating systems behind ambitious scale—quickly, measurably, and durably.

At Atlassian, I designed operating models and workforce cadence, partnered with C-level leadership on strategy and org design, and shipped AI capability at production scale. I delivered Atlassian’s first multi-agent system using Rovo agents for backfill governance (90 requests in the first month), and I architected governance so behaviour is updatable via Confluence configuration.

Across my work, I take ambiguous, high-stakes problems and “ship the operating structure” that closes them—using agents to run workstreams end-to-end, implementing QA gates, and building teams’ capability to repeat the system. From workforce governance programs to distributed work and internal product innovation, I focus on operating models that outlast the original effort.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Head of Scale (founder)

Current

Zephi

Apr 2026 - Present (2 months)

Operate a live e-commerce business hands-on with AI-native execution, including agents for transactions and operational workflows. Built an end-to-end AI growth stack with automation, multi-model bookkeeping, and an email program with QA gating.

AI Execution AI Agents Payments QA Gate Paid Acquisition

Principal Program Manager

Atlassian

Oct 2020 - Apr 2026 (5 years 6 months)

Designed operating models and workforce governance for C-level leadership, spanning strategy, org design, distributed work, and cross-company initiatives. Shipped Atlassian’s first multi-agent system for community/cohort business processes and set production AI practices inside governance systems at scale.

Operating Model Design Workforce Planning Org Design Technical Onboarding Change Management Multi Agent Systems Configuration From Confluence Human In The Loop Oversight Governance Dashboards Stakeholder Management

Program Manager - Design & Platform

Atlassian

Mar 2016 - Sep 2020 (4 years 6 months)

Led cross-functional rollout of a unified design system and global navigation architecture across Atlassian’s multi-product SaaS suite. Built platform operating-model governance through 12x org growth with roadmap governance, decision-making frameworks, and dependency management.

Design Systems Global Navigation Architecture SaaS Platform Operations Dependency Management